I've been SmartFiltered out of MeFi at work

December 3, 2001 7:46 PM

I've been SmartFiltered out of MeFi at work. I swear I only looked when I was doing a build. Mostly.

I tried using Ben Brown's MeFi/RSS demo but it's got no links. Bad enough I can't see the discussions, but no links! (It's kind of like wanting a cigarette and having to make do witha picture of one.)

Where do I want to go today? Without MeFi, I haven't got a clue.

Is there a solution, or am I doomed to be more productive at work?

posted by idiolect to MetaFilter-Related at 7:46 PM (17 comments total)

there are alternate URLs you can get to the site with. Did it block all the *.metafilter.com subdomains? If so, you can still access the site at other URLs.

Currently, there's a URL pointing at it that I haven't gotten around to using yet, try surfing to i.am.a.notalentassclown.org (it's a long story).
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:19 PM on December 3, 2001

quit your job.
posted by ColdChef at 8:31 PM on December 3, 2001

or take stuff from work...
posted by machaus at 8:35 PM on December 3, 2001

try surfing to i.am.a.notalentassclown.org (it's a long story).

So what is the long story?

I'm trying to imagine scenarios where registering notalentassclown.org would come up... Something along the lines of "oh yeah! I'll show you, I'll go register notalentassclown.org... That'll show you!"


posted by drezdn at 8:57 PM on December 3, 2001

Well, the only prior reference to the phrase "ass-clown" that it has been my pleasure to hear came from the movie Office Space, which makes this doubly funny.
posted by j.edwards at 10:01 PM on December 3, 2001

notalentassclown.org? Yeah, Matt. I really want to hear that story too...
posted by rusty at 10:02 PM on December 3, 2001

Here's the story: in reference to this thread, I said this. If you go to the root page of the site, you'll see a simple graphic sitting inside one of Eric Costello's CSS templates, waiting for me to do a new db table with everyone's potential web-related job skils, so you can sign up to announce your availability, proclaiming to the job world "I'm a no talent ass clown and you should hire me!"

Though another big sticking point is how to keep resume spammers out. Ever since I announced my availability on the sideblog of metafilter, I've gotten dozens of spams about how I should post my resume at resumerabbit, resumesuper2000, and resumewonderonline. It appears that people at these job sites (that charge recruiters for access, that's their revenue model) run bots searching for resumes online, and when they find one they pummel the attached email address with a couple spams.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:31 PM on December 3, 2001

i read that as "not talentless clown."
"no talent ass clown" is funny too.
posted by palegirl at 10:50 PM on December 3, 2001

ass clowns seem more interesting and of greater utility in today's market. not only can he or she make your webpages shine, but they can also bring a smile to even the gloomiest programmer!
posted by moz at 10:55 PM on December 3, 2001

That Matt, he'll do anything to make J. Ko laugh.
posted by anildash at 12:26 AM on December 4, 2001

Wish I had that one for my personal blog. Of course, sending employers there to view my resume is the next best thing...
posted by fooljay at 12:48 AM on December 4, 2001

Matt, cybersquatting is illegal. You won't get away with it.

It's possible that SmartFilter thought you trying to access the web site of a competing product, idolect :) Peacefire will hopefully perfect their anti-filtering proxy proxy sometime soon. They might give it a catchier name too.
posted by dlewis at 3:22 AM on December 4, 2001

The thing is, two years ago "notalentassclown.org" could have gotten tons of VC money.
posted by jpoulos at 9:05 AM on December 4, 2001

my school used to block FuckedCompany, and I used to use SafeWeb to view it, but they went out of business. This anonymizer thing looks like the same idea though.
posted by rorycberger at 10:24 AM on December 4, 2001

Enterprise engenderment accelerates initiative platforms, reducing staffing components, integration of technical accessibility, resulting in bottom line pluralisms, benefit-wise. Incidental re-sizing staff requirements through attrition can be accelerated by paridigm shifts and focusing on core suitability and cross-training.

Matt, that is one of the most beautiful specimens of consultant double-speak BS I have ever seen.
posted by internal at 10:28 AM on December 4, 2001

heh. I didn't write it, eric did.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:48 AM on December 4, 2001

Blurk - my office uses SmartFilter too. Does that mean come next site list update I'm gonna have to *gasp* work?!

Proxy chaining seems to fsck SmartFilter over nicely. Find yourself a nice public proxy list, pick one, and string it in front of the address you want to go to:

http://insert.proxy.here/http://www.metafilter.com
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:04 PM on December 4, 2001